Suppose you could save a much loved friend or relative from death. Imagine God had given you the power of life and death. A trip would be required. But a much loved friend or relative, in the prime of their life, would be saved. Would you go? Would you give life?
This mercy mission would not be just to prolong the days of one whose life is spent. It would involve no less than restoring a young friend, whose life is on the point of tragically being cut short, to have an opportunity of a full life.
Part of intensity of the tragedy of Phillip Hughes' death at 25 years of age is it was a death in the prime of life, a life cut short with so much still to do. Imagine you could prevent such a tragedy, stop time, stop the ball as it travelled mid air. You could restore all that youthful vigour. Would you go?
The fact is, if you were a genuine friend, you are going to make the trip, either way. You are either going to a funeral, or to a feast, for your friend. You will either be mourning or celebrating, weeping or whooping. Which would you choose?
We know what each of us would we choose: feasting. Life is too full of funerals. We would, without a doubt, save life, rather than end it. But Jesus purposely chooses the funeral.
Jesus hears that a much loved friend, Lazarus, is on the point of death. His two friends, Mary and Martha, are about to lose their brother. Jesus is fully aware of these things. In fact, he knows more than Lazarus’ nursing sisters. Jesus knows that Lazarus is going to die.
Jesus is able to heal the sick. He has shown this throughout John’s Gospel. Sickness is no problem for Jesus the Christ. Jesus could have done something.
Jesus doesn’t have to see the person to heal. In John chapter 4, Jesus is in a different town. A royal official travels the best part of a day to Cana. Jesus simply says a word, "Your son will live", and problem solved (John 4:43-54). Jesus is not like a second rate mobile phone network, always out of range. Distance is no problem. Jesus can heal remotely. And serious disability is no problem. Jesus healed the man lame for 38 years (John 5:1-14) and the man born blind (John 9:1-41).
Yet in John chapter 11, Jesus does nothing. He doesn't leave immediately. He doesn't even speak the healing word for afar. He does nothing. He allows the sickness to work death in Lazarus. He allows Martha and Mary to wait in turmoil, to stand at the window and watch for a Jesus who will never arrive in time.
And then Jesus decides that he will make Mary and Martha watch their brother breathe his last. Jesus then allows Martha and Mary to start the grizzly task of preparing their brother’s body for burial. They wash Lazarus’ body, cleanse the filth and bodily fluids from it, and so that it doesn’t keep smelling, anoint it with perfumes and spices to defer the stench, then lay it in the tomb. By the time Jesus deigns to arrive, the family has been mourning four days. And Jesus has allowed all this to happen. Mary is exactly right to say to him through the tears, in verse 32:
Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. (John 11:32 NIV)
The question is ‘Why?’ Why does Jesus not act to save all this pain?
Maybe it was because Jesus didn’t really care. Maybe Jesus didn’t really love Lazarus and Mary and Martha. They are just celestial playthings as Jesus heartlessly toys with them. Well, John won’t let us say this. At the very beginning of this account, in verses 5 to 6, John says:
Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days. (John 11:5-6 NIV)
Moreover, Jesus is deeply moved when he gets to Bethany. Verse 33:
When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit (NIV)
Jesus stands at the tomb and in the shortest verse in the bible, John chapter 11, verse 35 we read, "Jesus wept". And again in verse 38, we read, Jesus was once more ‘deeply moved’.
Are all these crocodile tears? Is Jesus not really upset? Is this all show, because Jesus knows he is going to wake Lazarus up? Does Jesus just goes along with everyone elses’ sadness for their sake?
Or what about another possibility? Did Jesus miscalculate the effect Lazarus’ death would have on him? Did he under-estimate the pain of bereavement on himself and on his friends, Mary and Martha? And now, as he faces the tomb, Jesus is surprised at how much it hurts to face the death of someone you love?
No, No, No.
Jesus knows what he is doing. Jesus decided it was better for him to go through the pain of grieving, it was better that Mary and Martha went through the pain of grieving, it was better that Lazarus went through the agony of death, so that Jesus could make a point. It is a very important point. It is so important, that Jesus underlined it and emphasized it with his own and Mary and Martha’s grief, and Lazarus’ death.
Has Jesus put you through a tough time? Sickness, like Lazarus or bitter grief and sadness, like Mary and Martha. If so, Jesus wants you to learn something about him through it, the same thing that he wanted Mary and Martha and Lazarus to know, and his disciples to know. He has brought you here today, through that pain, through that grief, so that you can hear his words in John Chapter 11 verses 25 and 26:
Jesus said: “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.” (NIV)
Jesus allowed this intense and real suffering of his dear friends because he would bring something good out of it. The news that Jesus himself is the resurrection and the life. And if you believe in Jesus Christ, and trust and rely on him, then despite death you will live. Your death, if you indeed go through it, will not be a final death. It will be the doorway to eternal life.
And God has sent you the suffering you have experienced, and brought you here to this building on this day, bearing all the scars you bear, so that he can underscore this fact to you: His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, is the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Jesus Christ will live, even though he dies. The one who lives and believes in Jesus will never die. Every hardship you have been through in your life is given to you so that you will understand this eternal-life-giving fact, that Jesus Christ is the resurrection and the life.
As the shadows lengthened on the fourth day following Lazarus’ burial, Jesus wept at his friend's tomb, and became deeply disturbed at death. And probably so will you and I, if we live that long. Perhaps you have already been deeply disturbed and troubled and racked with grief at a graveside or a funeral, as you've faced the stone cold reality of death. Good. You will be more ready to understand Jesus’ message today.
Jesus wept in the face of death for this reason: Jesus wanted you to know that Jesus himself has been there before. He too has shed tears at a funeral for a friend. And yet Jesus looked into the face of death and says to you, "I am the resurrection and the life". And Jesus says to us. "It might look like death wins in the end". And to modern humanity, modern science, modern experience, death is a certainty. But Jesus is saying, "I am bigger than your experience, even your collective experience, and your scientific conclusions, and your maxims like 'the one certainty is death and taxes'."
For all modern atheism’s pessimism that death wins, Jesus' words stand firm. And they will endure for as long as this world does. Death doesn’t win in the end, because Jesus is the resurrection and the life. Death’s victory will be short, for all who believe in Jesus will live.
Friends, if we believe in Jesus Christ, our coming death is simply the pathway to full blooded and life-to-the-full eternal life. And the first thing Jesus did to make this known to us was to raise his friend Lazarus from the dead. Jesus counted that it was worth all of his grief, and that of Mary and Martha, and all Lazarus’ suffering, so that this fact could be underlined to you, today, that Jesus is the resurrection and the life.
But Jesus does not just raise Lazarus. He is himself raised. For a little while later, on the first Easter Day, Jesus himself endured the agony of death. He watched this same Mary again mourn for a dearly loved friend. Again he allowed Mary and Martha and Lazarus to suffer -- this time by losing their Lord, Himself.
Why? Because Jesus is the good shepherd, who lays down his own life for his sheep. Jesus has been given authority to lay down his life, and authority to take it up again. No one takes the good shepherd's life from him. He laid it down of his own accord. And John the Gospel writer does not just want to show us Jesus weeping at death outside the tomb. John wants to show us Jesus being immersed into death, and coming out the other side of death.
Jesus does not just defeat death from the outside: “Lazarus, come out”. Jesus defeats death from the inside, from inside the tomb, from inside death. He allows death to swallow him whole so that he can punch a hole through it, destroying it from the inside out. “He is risen, he is no longer here. Put your finger here, see my hands and my feet. Put your hand in my side.”
Jesus was crucified for claiming to be the Son of God, the Son of Man, the Messiah, the I AM before Abraham. Jesus’ claim to being the Son of God is vindicated in resurrection. Jesus is declared with power by the Spirit of Holiness to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead (Rom 1:4). Jesus was vindicated in the Spirit by his resurrection from the dead (1 Tim 3:16).
And so Jesus himself is the resurrection and the life. Jesus doesn’t just do resurrection: he is resurrection. And when Jesus returns, he is the one who will raise those believers who have fallen asleep in him.
Thomas finally understands who Jesus is when he says, “My Lord and My God” (John 20:28). For Jesus is God in the flesh, the Word who was with God and was God, who became flesh and tented among us for a short time.
And these things are written so we can believe Jesus Christ. We read at the end of chapter 20:
Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name (John 20:30-31 NIV).
The last word is not death, but life. And this is true of all who put their trust in Christ. We are those more blessed than Thomas. Thomas saw and believed. But today we get to not see and yet believe. And that is more blessed.
So can I leave you with this challenge. The challenge is to believe what Martha believed. John chapter 11 verse 27:
"Yes, Lord," she told him, "I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world." (NIV)
Like Martha, put your trust in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God. Give him your life. Live with him as your king and Lord and master. Hand over your whole life to him, and throw in your lot with him. Repent and change your thinking about Jesus Christ and about life. Believe that God raised him from the dead as ruler over the universe. And then you will have life in his sweet name, even though you taste the bitterness of death.
Let’s pray.
NA28
11:1Ἦν δέ τις ἀσθενῶν, Λάζαρος ἀπὸ Βηθανίας, ἐκ τῆς κώμης Μαρίας καὶ Μάρθας τῆς ἀδελφῆς αὐτῆς. 2ἦν δὲ Μαριὰμ ἡ ἀλείψασα τὸν κύριον μύρῳ καὶ ἐκμάξασα τοὺς πόδας αὐτοῦ ταῖς θριξὶν αὐτῆς, ἧς ὁἀδελφὸς Λάζαρος ἠσθένει. 3ἀπέστειλαν οὖν αἱ ἀδελφαὶ πρὸς αὐτὸν λέγουσαι· κύριε, ἴδε ὃν φιλεῖς ἀσθενεῖ. 4ἀκούσας δὲ ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἶπεν· αὕτη ἡ ἀσθένεια οὐκ ἔστιν πρὸς θάνατον ἀλλ’ ὑπὲρ τῆς δόξης τοῦ θεοῦ, ἵνα δοξασθῇ ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ δι’ αὐτῆς.
5ἠγάπα δὲ ὁ Ἰησοῦς τὴν Μάρθαν καὶ τὴν ἀδελφὴν αὐτῆς καὶ τὸν Λάζαρον. 6Ὡς οὖν ἤκουσεν ὅτι ἀσθενεῖ, τότε μὲν ἔμεινεν ἐν ᾧ ἦν τόπῳ δύο ἡμέρας, 7ἔπειτα μετὰ τοῦτο λέγει τοῖς μαθηταῖς· ἄγωμεν εἰς τὴν Ἰουδαίαν πάλιν. 8λέγουσιν αὐτῷ οἱ μαθηταί· ῥαββί, νῦν ἐζήτουν σε λιθάσαι οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι, καὶ πάλιν ὑπάγεις ἐκεῖ; 9ἀπεκρίθη Ἰησοῦς· οὐχὶ δώδεκα ὧραί εἰσιν τῆς ἡμέρας; ἐάν τις περιπατῇ ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ, οὐ προσκόπτει, ὅτι τὸ φῶς τοῦ κόσμου τούτου βλέπει· 10ἐὰν δέ τις περιπατῇ ἐν τῇ νυκτί, προσκόπτει, ὅτι τὸ φῶς οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν αὐτῷ.
11Ταῦτα εἶπεν, καὶ μετὰ τοῦτο λέγει αὐτοῖς· Λάζαρος ὁ φίλος ἡμῶν κεκοίμηται· ἀλλὰ πορεύομαι ἵνα ἐξυπνίσω αὐτόν. 12εἶπαν οὖν οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτῷ· κύριε, εἰ κεκοίμηται σωθήσεται. 13εἰρήκει δὲ ὁἸησοῦς περὶ τοῦ θανάτου αὐτοῦ, ἐκεῖνοι δὲ ἔδοξαν ὅτι περὶ τῆς κοιμήσεως τοῦ ὕπνου λέγει. 14τότε οὖν εἶπεν αὐτοῖς ὁ Ἰησοῦς παρρησίᾳ· Λάζαρος ἀπέθανεν, 15καὶ χαίρω δι’ ὑμᾶς ἵνα πιστεύσητε, ὅτι οὐκ ἤμην ἐκεῖ· ἀλλ’ ἄγωμεν πρὸς αὐτόν. 16εἶπεν οὖν Θωμᾶς ὁ λεγόμενος Δίδυμος τοῖς συμμαθηταῖς· ἄγωμεν καὶἡμεῖς ἵνα ἀποθάνωμεν μετ’ αὐτοῦ.
17Ἐλθὼν οὖν ὁ Ἰησοῦς εὗρεν αὐτὸν τέσσαρας ἤδη ἡμέρας ἔχοντα ἐν τῷ μνημείῳ. 18ἦν δὲἡ Βηθανία ἐγγὺς τῶν Ἱεροσολύμων ὡς ἀπὸ σταδίων δεκαπέντε. 19πολλοὶ δὲ ἐκ τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἐληλύθεισαν πρὸς τὴν Μάρθαν καὶ Μαριὰμ ἵνα παραμυθήσωνται αὐτὰς περὶ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ. 20Ἡ οὖν Μάρθα ὡς ἤκουσεν ὅτι Ἰησοῦς ἔρχεται ὑπήντησεν αὐτῷ· Μαριὰμ δὲ ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ ἐκαθέζετο. 21εἶπεν οὖν ἡ Μάρθα πρὸς τὸν Ἰησοῦν· κύριε, εἰ ἦς ὧδε οὐκ ἂν ἀπέθανεν ὁ ἀδελφός μου· 22[ἀλλὰ] καὶ νῦν οἶδα ὅτι ὅσα ἂν αἰτήσῃ τὸν θεὸν δώσει σοι ὁ θεός. 23λέγει αὐτῇ ὁ Ἰησοῦς· ἀναστήσεται ὁ ἀδελφός σου. 24λέγει αὐτῷ ἡ Μάρθα· οἶδα ὅτι ἀναστήσεται ἐν τῇἀναστάσει ἐν τῇ ἐσχάτῃ ἡμέρᾳ. 25εἶπεν αὐτῇ ὁ Ἰησοῦς· ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ἀνάστασις καὶ ἡ ζωή· ὁ πιστεύων εἰς ἐμὲ κἂν ἀποθάνῃ ζήσεται, 26καὶ πᾶς ὁ ζῶν καὶ πιστεύων εἰς ἐμὲ οὐ μὴἀποθάνῃ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα. πιστεύεις τοῦτο; 27λέγει αὐτῷ· ναὶ κύριε, ἐγὼ πεπίστευκα ὅτι σὺ εἶ ὁ χριστὸς ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦὁ εἰς τὸν κόσμον ἐρχόμενος.
28Καὶ τοῦτο εἰποῦσα ἀπῆλθεν καὶ ἐφώνησεν Μαριὰμ τὴν ἀδελφὴν αὐτῆς λάθρᾳ εἰποῦσα· ὁ διδάσκαλος πάρεστιν καὶ φωνεῖ σε. 29ἐκείνη δὲ ὡς ἤκουσεν ἠγέρθη ταχὺ καὶἤρχετο πρὸς αὐτόν.
30οὔπω δὲ ἐληλύθει ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἰς τὴν κώμην, ἀλλ’ ἦν ἔτι ἐν τῷ τόπῳ ὅπου ὑπήντησεν αὐτῷ ἡ Μάρθα. 31οἱ οὖν Ἰουδαῖοι οἱὄντες μετ’ αὐτῆς ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ καὶ παραμυθούμενοι αὐτήν, ἰδόντες τὴν Μαριὰμ ὅτι ταχέως ἀνέστη καὶ ἐξῆλθεν, ἠκολούθησαν αὐτῇ δόξαντες ὅτι ὑπάγει εἰς τὸ μνημεῖον ἵνα κλαύσῃ ἐκεῖ.
32Ἡ οὖν Μαριὰμ ὡς ἦλθεν ὅπου ἦν Ἰησοῦς ἰδοῦσα αὐτὸν ἔπεσεν αὐτοῦ πρὸς τοὺς πόδας λέγουσα αὐτῷ· κύριε, εἰ ἦς ὧδε οὐκ ἄν μου ἀπέθανεν ὁἀδελφός. 33Ἰησοῦς οὖν ὡς εἶδεν αὐτὴν κλαίουσαν καὶ τοὺς συνελθόντας αὐτῇἸουδαίους κλαίοντας, ἐνεβριμήσατο τῷ πνεύματι καὶἐτάραξεν ἑαυτὸν 34καὶ εἶπεν· ποῦ τεθείκατε αὐτόν; λέγουσιν αὐτῷ· κύριε, ἔρχου καὶ ἴδε. 35ἐδάκρυσεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς. 36ἔλεγον οὖν οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι· ἴδε πῶς ἐφίλει αὐτόν. 37τινὲς δὲ ἐξ αὐτῶν εἶπαν· οὐκ ἐδύνατο οὗτος ὁ ἀνοίξας τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς τοῦ τυφλοῦ ποιῆσαι ἵνα καὶ οὗτος μὴἀποθάνῃ;
38Ἰησοῦς οὖν πάλιν ἐμβριμώμενος ἐν ἑαυτῷἔρχεται εἰς τὸ μνημεῖον· ἦν δὲ σπήλαιον καὶ λίθος ἐπέκειτο ἐπ’ αὐτῷ. 39λέγει ὁ Ἰησοῦς· ἄρατε τὸν λίθον. λέγει αὐτῷ ἡἀδελφὴ τοῦ τετελευτηκότος Μάρθα· κύριε, ἤδη ὄζει, τεταρταῖος γάρ ἐστιν. 40λέγει αὐτῇ ὁ Ἰησοῦς· οὐκ εἶπόν σοι ὅτι ἐὰν πιστεύσῃς ὄψῃ τὴν δόξαν τοῦ θεοῦ; 41ἦραν οὖν τὸν λίθον. ὁ δὲ Ἰησοῦς ἦρεν τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς ἄνω καὶ εἶπεν· πάτερ, εὐχαριστῶ σοι ὅτι ἤκουσάς μου. 42ἐγὼ δὲ ᾔδειν ὅτι πάντοτέ μου ἀκούεις, ἀλλὰ διὰ τὸν ὄχλον τὸν περιεστῶτα εἶπον, ἵνα πιστεύσωσιν ὅτι σύ με ἀπέστειλας. 43καὶ ταῦτα εἰπὼν φωνῇ μεγάλῃἐκραύγασεν· Λάζαρε, δεῦρο ἔξω. 44ἐξῆλθεν ὁ τεθνηκὼς δεδεμένος τοὺς πόδας καὶ τὰς χεῖρας κειρίαις καὶ ἡ ὄψις αὐτοῦ σουδαρίῳ περιεδέδετο. λέγει αὐτοῖς ὁ Ἰησοῦς· λύσατε αὐτὸν καὶ ἄφετε αὐτὸν ὑπάγειν.
My Translation
11:1 Now a certain person, Lazarus from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha, was sick. 11:2 And this Mary, whose brother Lazarus was sick, was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair. 11:3So the sisters sent word to him, saying, “Lord, look, he whom you love is sick”. 11:4And when he heard, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God might glorified through it.”
11:5Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 11:6So since he had heard that he was sick, he stayed in the place where he was two more days after that. 11:7Then after this he said to his disciples, “Let’s go into Judea again.” 11:8The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews are now seeking to stone you, and you are going there again?” 11:9Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? Someone who walks in the daylight doesn’t stumble, because that person sees the light of this world. 11:10But anyone who walks in the night stumbles, because there is no light in the night.”
11:11He said these things, and after this he said to them, “Lazarus our friend is asleep, but we are going so that I might awaken him.” 11:12So the disciples said to him, “Lord, if he is asleep, he will be saved.” 11:13But Jesus had spoken about his death, though they thought that he was speaking about the normal bodily rest of sleep. 11:14So then Jesus spoke to them openly: “Lazarus is dead. 11:15 And I am glad for your sake that we are not there, so that you might believe, But let’s go to him.” 11:16 So Thomas, called ‘twin’, said to his fellow disciples, “Let’s also go with him so that we might die with him.”
11:17So when he arrived, Jesus found him having already been in the tomb for four days. 11:18Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about 15 stadia [about 3 kilometers] away, 11:19and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother. 11:20So as soon as Martha heard that Jesus had arrived, she went to meet him, while Mary was sitting in the house. 11:21So Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you were here, my brother would not have died. 11:22But even now I know that God will give you as much as you ask him.” 11:23Jesus said to her, “Your brother will be raised.” 11:24Martha said to him, “I know that he will be raised in the resurrection on the last day.” 11:25Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though that person dies. 11:26 And every one who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this? 11:27She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.”
11:28And after she said this, she went away and called Mary her sister secretly, saying, “The teacher is here and is calling you.” 11:29Now when she heard, she arose quickly and came to him.
11:30Now Jesus had not yet entered into the village, but he was still in the place where Martha met him. 11:31So the Jews who were with her in the house and consoling her, when they saw that Mary quickly stood up and went out, followed her, supposing that she went out to the tomb that she might weep there.
11:32So Mary, as she came to where Jesus was, saw him and fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you were here, my brother wouldn’t have died.” 11:33So as he saw her weeping, and the Jews who were coming with her weeping, Jesus was moved with angry emotion in his spirit, and was deeply disturbed. 11:34And he said, “Where have they put him?” 11:35 Jesus broke down and cried. 11:36So the Jews said, “See how he loved him.” 11:37But some of them said, “Couldn’t the one who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this person from dying?”
11:38Then Jesus, again moved with angry emotion in himself, arrived at the tomb. Now there was a cave, and a stone had been placed across it. 11:39Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, now it will smell, for it is the fourth day.” 11:40Jesus said to her, “Didn’t I tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” 11:41Then they took away the stone, and Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you hear me. 11:42And I know that you always hear me. But because of the crowd standing around, I spoke, so that they might believe that you sent me. 11:43And having said these things, he shouted in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 11:44The dead man came out, his feet and hands bound with bandages, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Untie and release him so that he can go.”
Regarding verse 2, John records an anointing by Mary at John 12:1-11. It is almost certain that John’s note in verse 2 is a reference to the full account provided at 12:1-11. Luke 10:38-41 also records Mary and Martha at home with Jesus.
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